Music is Good for the Soul
by Harbinger of Shadows
Summary: While music was Charlie's favorite pastime, he usually only did it in private for fear of ridicule from those who heard it. When Blake Belladonna is startled by a nightmare, she searches for the soothing melodies of her team's resident musician. Much to his surprise, Blake has always looked on from afar, but what happens when CRWBY's two raven haired hunter engage in a duet?


It was a no brainer that Charlie Mercury loved his music, he sang almost everywhere he went. If there was ever a time where he was stressed and needed to unwind, he would find himself in Beacon Academy's music room. Why a hunting school needed a music room was beyond him, but he felt it started when he made the comment to JNPR within earshot of a certain heiress. He really did need to thank her for that. Just gonna keep that one tabbed, come back to it later. Not only was he a good singer, but he felt he wasn't to shabby when it came to instruments either. Sometimes he'd sneak down there if he couldn't sleep or just needed a way to kill time. But little did he know, that sometimes his music would catch the ear of one of his teammates.

The ear of one Blake Belladonna. Sure as a Faunas, she had an above level of senses and it would sometimes work our in her favor. Sometimes. Other times, she'd accidentally hear something she _really_ shouldn't have. She hated having to burden herself with knowing these unpleasant secrets. They really were things that she shouldn't have known. Like CRWBY's resident man in black Blake also found things to keep herself occupied when she felt down whatever it may be, be it reading or otherwise. When her literature wasn't enough, she turned to the soothing melodies of their only male teammate. She couldn't for the life of her figure out what it was that drove her to his music, but the one consistency was the quality of whatever he'd be singing. When she had nightmares, which coincidentally lessened around the time of Charlie's arrival to Beacon and being paired with the newly christened CRWBY, she almost defaulted to either crying herself back to sleep or sneaking herself down to the music room to listen to her favorite musician. Some would even hazard a guess to say she was falling for Beacon's resident musician.

No one else on their team had an issue with his singing, even sometimes garnering an ovation from his team even though he thought he was mediocre at best. They would always attempt to convince him otherwise, but it never worked. He always thought, borderline knew, that he would never amount to anything. Weiss was by far the better vocalist of the team, having performed at many different recitals over the years. Sure they may have never been by choice, but she still had the experience. All Charlie had was him singing in the shower and to whatever was playing on his scroll, not much to speak of there.

One of these nightmares were pretty intense and it shook Blake to her core. It was Blake and the rest of CRWBY fighting a horde. Seems par for the course, seeing Ruby and Charlie were flying back and forth slicing at the Nevermore with their scythes and Weiss and Yang trying to fight Ursa and Boarbatusks on the ground. Blake, however, froze in her tracks when the fight turned for the worse. Ruby and Charlie's weren't on the same page, Weiss and Yang were surrounded and then overtaken by the Grimm that surround them. She tried to shout for her team to get out of the way, but her mouth couldn't or rather wouldn't make the proper sounds or shapes to warn them. One by one, they all fell.

Bolting up in a sweat and shaking profusely, she scanned the room to find her team still asleep in their beds. That was, all but Charlie who was nowhere to be found. The panic button in her head being pressed and alarms of all kind sounding off, she made her way out of the room leaving the rest of CRWBY snoozing away as if nothing ever happened.

She couldn't help but shake the feeling that something bad had happened to Charlie, no matter how prominent of a fighter he was. She ran down the halls, turning corners and racing through corridors. She could hear her heart beating in her chest and she tried her hardest to calm herself down and regain her composure, but her best efforts weren't enough. She would have bust out the doors of the school if she hadn't heard the familiar voice and piano, coming from the opposite direction.

Charlie had a hard time sleeping that night. He couldn't help but shake the feeling that he wasn't deserving of his spot in CRWBY, even though he a requested to join and they all said yes. He felt inferior in almost every way to each of his teammates. Yang was a better fighter, Ruby had better control of her scythe, and Weiss and Blake were both fantastic tacticians. Then there was this hot mess of a teammate, he had issues controlling his semblance. He had Phantom down like the back of his hand, but he still couldn't fully control Second Gear. Whenever he used it, he almost felt like this demon was being unleashed in his soul. He would go berserk, and it took hell to bring him back.

 **One month prior**

When it first happened, they were all out on a mission. It was simple enough, eradicate all the Grimm in the area. It didn't quite go as planned; both Ruby and Blake were injured, and Weiss and Yang struggling to fend off the Grimm. When he saw both Ruby, the girl he thought of as the little sister he never had, and Blake, the girl he begrudgingly admits to being head over heels for, lying there injured he just felt something snap. His eyes changed to an icy blue, his aura flared to unbelievable levels, and he charged not even drawing his weapon. Opting instead to use his fist and throwing punches that both impressed and terrified even Yang.

He sprinted full speed towards wave after wave of Grimm, taking them all out in the process. Not even bothered or worried about all the damage he had taken, he pressed forwards. He let out an almost primal yell as he stood over all the corpses beneath him. After his aura died down and his eyes changed back to their original golden brown, he turned back to his team and gave a thumbs up while he stood there battered and beaten. He took a few steps forwards and then collapsed. Blake then forced herself over to the fallen man and tried to shake him awake.

 _Get up! Get back up! You can't leave us yet! Please just wake up!_ He remembered Blake yelling at him before passing out.

He woke up a few days later in the infirmary, bandaged up and sore all over. When he looked around the room, he saw none other than Blake sitting on the other side in a chair that looked highly uncomfortable. She looked, arguable, in a worst state than he did. She looked like she hadn't slept or eaten in days, which only served to make Charlie guilty. When she noticed he was awake she sprinted for his bed and held him closely, muttering in his ear that he was stupid and he could have killed himself doing what he did. She stayed there until the rest of CRWBY ran into the room, hearing Blake's near sobbing. They told him what had happened after the mission.

" _You know, Blake never once left your side. She was against even considering leaving until you woke up."_ Yang said

He could only ask why, to which the blonde simply shrugged before joining the rest of the team.

When he was released, Ruby still ordered him to stay put and relax while his body finished it recovery from the exertion Second Gear put on him. This was when he found his music talents, playing any instrument that Ruby, Blake, or Yang would bring him.

 **Present time**

He walked to the door of the music room with a folder under his arm. Unlocking the door, he walked into the well lit room and took his place at the grand piano in the center of the room. Knowing full well what he had planned to sing, he cleared his throat and started.

Blake made her way to the door about 5 minutes after Charlie had arrived. Instead of walking in and asking what he was doing at this time of night, she stopped short when she heard what he was singing

 _For full effect, listen to "Take Me Anywhere" by Nathan Sharp before continuing_

"It's underneath my skin, these god forsaken memories. The puppet takes the stage he'll carry on… Forgotten who I am, but all the world keeps telling me. It may be where you live but it's not your home" Charlie's voice rang out in the small room. Blake couldn't help but feel small tears pooling in her eyes from all the emotion he was pouring into his song.

"I got a one way ticket straight out of here, but I don't know where it goes. It's not the destination it's the crawl. Was it out of love or out of fear if you ask me, I don't know… you forget how want once you've had it all"

"You can take me anywhere..."

"You can take me anywhere..."

"I got a way back home and an open door to everything I left face down on the floor."

"You know take me anywhere..."

Blake then made her way into the room and sat next to Charlie, who almost stopped playing if it wasn't for Blake motioning for him to continue.

"It's underneath my skin, like ink that's still reminding me. A night where everything's not as it seems." Blake sang, pointing for Charlie to pick up where she left off.

"A thousand whiten smiles, but none contain no empathy. Paper thin, they're seeing right through me..."

The two raven haired hunters continued in harmony.

"I got a one way ticket straight out of here, but I don't know where it goes. Ignore the rise, but everyone sees you fall. Was it out of love or out of fear if you ask me, I don't know… you forget how to want once you've had it all..."

"You can take me anywhere..."

"You can take me anywhere..."

"I got a way back home and an open door to everything I left face down on the floor."

"You know you can take me anywhere..."

Charlie continued to play the piano thorough the instrumental break, noting to himself that Blake was a fantastic singer. The way she carried notes and pitches and even harmonizing with Charlie astounded him. He didn't think anyone else he knew even heard of the song, but that didn't stop the dark haired duo from finishing what they started.

"It's easy to see it, too hard to believe it but once in a while you just gotta come clean" Blake sang

"Now you're trying to hide it, but you can't deny it. It's falling apart, tearing up at the seams. I gave it my best, secretly I'm a mess. Sooner or later it's bound to rise. So many warning that I've been ignoring now it's shutting down..." Charlie finished, leaving a few seconds for them both the catch their breath.

"You can take me anywhere..."

"You can take me anywhere..."

"I got a way back home and an open door to everything I left face down on the floor."

"You know you can take me anywhere..."

The two finished their song as the piano rang out it's last note. Only then did golden brown meet glimmering amber. And then someone said something.

"Have you always been listening to me sing?" Charlie asked the raven haired huntress

"Y-yeah… sorry. It's just that… your voice is fantastic. It always helps me get back to sleep after I've had a rather bad nightmare." Blake admitted, blushing a hard red. He knew that she had really good hearing, so being able to hear him from the dorm wasn't too far out of the question.

"Is that so? Well while we're on the topic of confession things, I've got something I need to tell you. I can tell you have something on your mind as well. So we'll do it like this, I'll count down from 3. When I hit zero, we'll both say what we need to say. Okay?" Charlie asked the faunus, who simply nodded in agreement

3

2

1

0

"I love you"

"I love you"

They both sat there in total silence, both unsure of what they both had heard. They stood there and simply allowed the new information to sink in before either one of them spoke again.

"You too?" they both asked each other

"Why?" Charlie asked, unsure why the beautiful faunus would ever find him attracive

"Well, you're always there when we needed it the most. Whether it's been on a mission, or simple things like helping Weiss fix her weapon o-or helping Ruby with her work. You are the kindest person I've ever met, and when you collapsed on that last mission we had..." Blake trailed off, only continuing when Charlie motioned for her to keep going.

"I thought you were dead… I couldn't go that kind of torture again" tears were starting to form in the Faunus's eyes and when they trailed down, Charlie brushed them away with his finger before pulling Blake into a deep embrace.

"Don't cry, please, it's a crime for something as pretty as you to cry. I'm sorry for worrying you so much. It's just when I say you lying there, something in me just snapped. Something I can't explain. I felt this overwhelm urge to protect all of you. I was willing to go to any length to ensure that. You are the most beautiful creature I've ever met and I want to make sure you're here for a long, long time. So please Blake, please stop crying." Charlie said, stroking Blake's hair the entire time he spoke to her. In doing so, he was rewarded with a deep purr from Blake.

When he looked down at Blake, who was crying into his shirt, she looked up and did the one thing he thought no woman would ever do…

Charles Mercury got his first kiss. It was more passionate that anything he had ever known of. He could feel the love from Blake through this kiss and he intended to savor every moment. As the kiss deepened, so did the need for air. So they separated, both panting for air.

"So… that was a thing." Charlie said still trying to catch his breath

"Yeah, it was" Blake replied

"It's getting kinda late, we should probably be heading back now." Charlie said standing up. Blake soon followed as they both stretched.

Before leaving, he offered his arm to Blake as they left the music room.

"What a gentleman." Blake said, linking arms with Charlie

"So what does that make us, now? Like are we dating now? Are we boyfriend and girlfriend?" Charlie asked as they made their way back to their room

"Do you want to be?" Blake responded

"Yeah, that would sound nice..." Charlie said as they continued

When they pair made their way back to the dorm, everyone was still sounds asleep. Charlie carried Blake to her bed and he made his way back to his. After a while, Charlie noticed a weight on his chest. Looking down, he saw none other than Blake resting on his chest. Smiling, he kissed her forehead and whispered in her ear

"Good night, my kitten. Sweet dreams."

All he got in response was a kiss on the cheek and a goodnight in return, albeit half-asleep. CRWBY's black duo drifted of the sleep together. I guess music really is good for the soul after all.


End file.
